About the exhibitors:
Ulrike Von Schwerin - Franken
Rika was born in 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. After high school she moved with her family to the Westerwald region where she trained as a ceramic designer in the potters' town of Hoehr-Grenzhausen from 1977 to 1980. She received her ceramic Diploma and travelled to Botswana to visit her relatives for three months, fell in love with the country, people and nature and decided to stay on. She met a local pottery woman of 82 years who taught her about traditional Tswana pottery and its difficult dung-firing technique. She worked for the National Museum and Art Gallery in Gaborone, designing showcases and taught Art and Ceramics for two years at the Gaborone Polytechnicon. She started "Pelegano Pottery", a pottery inspired by local and other African traditional designs in the village of Gabane, and trained six women in this specialised pottery work. This project was supported by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).After successfully localising the project (it is still running today), she travelled with her husband for two years through Africa on a motorbike and sidecar. On return they had their firstborn son Telian-Kabo in 1995 and acquired land just outside the capital Gaborone to build their artistic dream house. Twins Miran-Opelo and Danyas-Leboko were born in 1998. With long-time friend and assistant Wendy Keorapetse Phatsima from Gabane, Rika established here their little home pottery called "Terra- Cotta".
